To:    Comment at the Guardian
Re:    Facing up to our animal nature, not just in biology, but in the social sciences too
Date: Monday 13 November 06

In response to the Observer article, "It is not just Farepak that is sick at heart" by Mary Riddell, or more specifically, to part of the heading: "Ripping off the poor is endemic in modern Britain", and to one of the posts.

Link to article and thread at The Guardian.
 

1st Post

 
Sorry I'm late to this threaqd.

In this Island Kingdom of ours, "ripping off the poor" has a very long and "respectable" history. And the richer (more powerful, and established) the rippers become, the more they are admired and respected.

Such feelings and behaviour are programmed into our animal nature: love and respect for those with power - in the expectation or hope of currying their favour, or at least of avoiding their disfavour.

We are "prime apes", if you will excuse the pun (again), Earth's "Greatest Ape", and it is time we faced up to the fact, not just in the conveniently compartmentalized science of biology, but also in the social sciences of politics, sociology, history, economics, etc.

Most importantly of all, because now a threat to human survival, our economy, free-market capitalism, has developed and been honed to take full (and thus such effective) advantage of our animal nature, making it "inherently" unsustainable.

2nd Post

eddieareader, I appreciate your long response (follow link, above, to article), but I think that you AND doow are both missing the essential point I am trying (inadequately, it seems) to make: our entire socio-economic order - unsurprisingly, in view of what Darwin is SUPPOSED to have taught us about human origins - is deeply rooted in and dependent on mankind's animal nature. The economy, as the major component of the "socio-economic environment", has effectively replaced the "natural environment" as the place where we now struggle for survival and advantage, greatly aided by our prodigious, but dumb (blind) animal intelligence, much of which we employ in rationalizing the irrational, justifying the unjustifiable and generally denying (to others and ourselves) the truth (and very "inconvenient" indeed, it is too!).

If our planet were a lot larger or our numbers far smaller, we might continue as we are for quite a while longer, but as it is we are rapidly approaching the limits of Earth's carrying capacity. Climate change is just one (major) symptom of the catastrophic course we are on. But because we are ALL totally immersed in and familiar with the status quo it is very difficult to recognise. Added to which, our total dependency on and vested interests in it makes us loath to do so.

Thus, we now find ourselves struggling both to and not to face up to the situation as our collective impact on the planet becomes increasingly obvious and threatening.

More is this vein at: http://www.spaceship-earth.org